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Showing posts with label Donal O'Driscoll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donal O'Driscoll. Show all posts
Donal O'Driscoll ✍ For all my opposition to successive Irish governments, I feel some of the sensationalist rhetoric of the last week or so needs to be scrutinised.

1. This government has no legitimacy.
 
This is patently not true. I may not like this government, but Ireland is a parliamentary democracy. Ireland is divided into constituencies, each constituency elects a set number of TDs. Out of those TDs, parties negotiate alliances. Governments are formed as a result of these alliances. I may not support this government, but it was elected legitimately as per the Constitution.
 
2. This government is a dictatorship.

Again, patently false. The government was elected in 2024, people had the right, as I did, to vote for alternative options. An insufficient amount of people did so. This government has done nothing to change rules to guarantee their power or anything else to indicate they are dictators.
 
3. We're being taxed to the Hilt. 

I don't disagree at all that tax monies are not well distributed in Ireland, but we are a comparatively low tax economy, certainly by European standards.
 
4. We can find money for everyone else but our own. 

Apart from the dangerous overtones of this argument, it is a total red herring. There is nothing to suggest spending on overseas aid directly takes from domestic spending. Again the problem here is distribution of public funds, not the amount spent on foreign aid.
 
5. The government have sold us out.
 
Have they though? I despise both FF and FG, but as much as they may put a positive spin on things at election times, they essentially are honest about what they are. We have decades of history to tell us what to expect from FF or FG in government. Collectively as people, we didn't vote in sufficient numbers to get them out. That is on us.

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is political activist from West Cork.

Sensationalist Rhetoric

Donal O'Driscoll ✍ Now that the dust has settled on the fuel protests, we can look at it with perhaps more semblance of calm and reason than was possible during the week. 

However, the question of whether or not I supported the protests, as if it were a binary choice, remains problematic for me to answer without doing a deep dive into the nuances. So I will attempt to do that now.

One of the easier questions to answer is if I support the original stated aims of tackling fuel costs and the cost of living Crisis that it has created. I don't drive so petrol and diesel doesn't affect me, but I did recently have to top up our oil, paying almost double what I normally pay. Even if I hadn't, supporting people taking a stand on such fundamental issues is a no brainer.

Indeed, after initial confusion about the scale of this and the effects on the public, disruption became less of a concern. Effective mass protests do cause disruption and after the first day I think planning around things became easier.

Here is where things become murkier. The issue of organisation and leadership. It was clear from day one that this protest was a bit 'higgledy piggledy' to say the least. The lack of direct involvement from the IRHA and farmers' organisations meant it was hard to see where the buck stopped. The idea of protests being organised through WhatsApp and social media does leave me feeling a bit uneasy.

Then more and more information emerged about the so called leaders of this. Christopher Duffy, was already known to me through social media as an appalling bigot who used his social media to spread lies and hatred against Muslims and migrants. A horrible excuse of a human being that I couldn't even begin to get on board with, even before I heard of his deplorable post saying he didn't care if the IDF raped Greta Thunberg. There is so much shit on Geoghegan, it's a case of take your pick, but again, a notorious spreader of anti-immigrant propaganda. 

John Dallon's drink driving offences again make him an unsuitable spokesperson for Hauliers, but as someone with alcohol issues myself, I don't know enough about the man to know if maybe there were addiction issues he'd since overcome. He's certainly the least objectionable of the three, but that is a low bar.

Again, leadership issues don't mean you can't support the broad movement, but it was clear there was very little attempt to disassociate from the loathsome Duffy in particular. In fact many people insist still that this swamp dweller is some sort of hero. Indeed, even many of the so called 'ordinary people' interviewed, kept bringing up stuff like 'looking after our own'. I don't think I need to explain what this is usually code for. In fairness, I don't think the disgusting attacks on the Muslim Sisters of Eire can be blamed directly on the protests. The plastic patriots may well have attacked them anyway, the protests merely gave them more reason to be in town.

Now we come to the really disappointing thing for me as a socialist, the whitewashing by some on the left of the very real issues with the leaders of this. I don't have a problem with individual parties like SF or PBP supporting the protests, as I say, I get the central issues and they weren't the main gaslighters. But some of the 'left wing' influencers online who were so quick to paint this as some sort of 'glorious revolution' that they instantly shot down any mention of the involvement of people like Duffy, left a sour taste in my mouth.

So when you ask me 'did you support the protesters?', the honest answer is, it depends. I was certainly sympathetic to the aims and acknowledge most protesters were voicing genuine grievances. Nonetheless, there was a dodgy element, especially at leadership level, which made it very hard for me as a socialist, to get fully behind them.

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is political activist from West Cork.

It Depends

Donal O'Driscoll ⚽ Two contradictory things can be correct at the same time. 

I have long maintained that this 'Slot won the league with Klopp's team' line is nonsense. Klopp couldn't win the league with Klopp's team the year before and I have no doubt whatsoever that he wasn't winning it last season. What Slot did, and yes it was Slot who did it, was nothing short of magical. For what he achieved Last Season, put some respect on his name.

However, what tonight has proven is that Slot is a momentum manager. When the team has it, when all is going well, the man is a genius. He'll have us unplayable. But when things go to south, as they have done, he just can't react. It reminds me of that episode of the Simpsons, when someone, I think it was Homer, who tried to get himself out of quicksand by putting his hands into it, causing him to sink further. Slot has found himself in a crisis situation and he has no idea how to resolve it.

The problems are by no means of his making. People talk about all the signings as if Slot signed them. He didn't, Hughes and Edwards did. That's not to say, they were bad signings, and when they click,  we'll be unreal, but until that happens, we need someone who can steady the ship. Slot can't. He's an exceptional manager who will go on to do great things elsewhere, but he's not the man for the situation we are currently in. Obviously, the tragedy of Jota was not something Slot could prepare for, but, had that happened under Klopp, he had the personality to manage it. The let's hug and go for a pint type mentality that Arne - as sound and all as he seems - just doesn't have.

So with a heavy heart, I have to say, tonight I have joined the ranks of Slot out. Not because I don't appreciate what he did before, but because he can't do what we need him to do Now. 

Thanks for everything Arne, but we need a change quickly. Who that person is I'm not so sure, but we need a caretaker manager in charge for the West Ham game.

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is a Liverpool supporter.

Momentum Manager

Donal O'Driscoll ✍We didn't come so far as a society to go backwards. 

We didn't break free of the shackles of the Catholic Church and from the dark days of systematic child abuse and the horrors of the Magdalene laundries to to go back to those dark days. 

I was proud of my country when we voted for marriage equality, I was proud when we repealed the Eighth amendment. I was obviously less proud in 2004 during the citizenship referendum, but I thought we were going in the right direction. Now I'm not so sure.

I'm a white, heterosexual Irishman. Although openly atheist now, I was raised Catholic. I've very few barriers facing me. Yet all I know is I have no interest in living in an Ireland which goes back to oppressing women and telling them their place is in the home, that shoves gay people back into the closet, that tells ordinary decent migrants that the country is full when it isn't, that has communities like the Indian and Islamic communities living in fear. I don't want idiotic lowest common denominator politics imported from the UK.

I get it, Covid broke a lot of people psychologically and many working class people feel alienated. But that's capitalism, it's not the brown people giving you your kebab on a Friday night or the handful of Transgender or non binary people in your community who are harming no one.

These patriots can wave their cheap Poundshop flags, but they're not having this country.

I think James Connolly said it best:

Ireland without her people is nothing to me, and the man who is bubbling over with love and enthusiasm for ‘Ireland’, and can yet pass unmoved through our streets and witness all the wrong and the suffering, the shame and the degradation wrought upon the people of Ireland, aye, wrought by Irishmen upon Irishmen and women, without burning to end it, is, in my opinion, a fraud and a liar in his heart, no matter how he loves that combination of chemical elements which he is pleased to call ‘Ireland' 

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is political activist from West Cork.

No To The Poundshop Patriots

Donal O'Driscoll  ✍ I have avoided talking about anything to do with the trans issue for a number of reasons.

  1. As a man totally at ease with my own biology, it simply doesn't affect me. 
  2. Frankly, I don't understand it. I don't mean that in a dismissive way. I just literally don't understand it in that I don't know what it's like to feel you're in the wrong body. I also believe commenting on something you genuinely know nothing about is both ignorant and arrogant, so I have avoided doing same. 
  3. It's a fucking landmine politically and as it didn't affect me personally, I thought it best to steer clear.

However, a few things have changed in recent times. One was the harassment in my profession, of staff, because of the availability of certain LGBT material in libraries. Thankfully it didn't affect me personally, but I know many people were shaken by it. Then there was the shameful treatment by anti- trans activists of Imane Khelif, a biological woman, who was a victim of a bizarre hate campaign. I myself received vile abuse from an anti-trans fanatic I once considered my friend, because I dared to support Imane on my page. 

Now this judgement in the UK telling trans women they're not women. I'm sure some of those responsible for this verdict may have genuinely thought this was about protecting women, but what they've really done now is given carte blanche to bigots to further marginalise an already vulnerable group of people.

I don't care if a Mary was born a Michael, I really don't. I've enough of my own problems, I do care though that now that Mary is told she's still Michael, that she is further ostracized and may be at serious risk to her mental health.

There are, potentially, issues around public conveniences, there are issues around where trans women fit into full contact sports. You won't solve those issues by stripping people of their rights and their dignity. If you meet me and I misgender you, let me know and I'll address you correctly. Then I'll go about my day.

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is political activist from West Cork.

UK Supreme Court Gives Carte Blanche To Bigots

Donal O'Driscoll  ✍ Disappointing to me as an Irish republican socialist to see so much anti-immigration sentiment springing up around the place. 

To the extent that even non-white Irish people, born in Ireland and who have known nothing but Ireland are being subjected to appalling racism.

Migration is as old as time, people have always migrated, they always will. Go back something like 4-5 generations on my mother's side and I'm English. Do I consider myself English? Fuck no! I'm not Joe Biden, romanticising vague links to other nations. However, the point is, go back far enough, we're all migrants. We certainly all know people who have migrated themselves.

The bigots and their enablers will talk about genuine concerns about immigration. However , just because a concern is genuine, doesn't mean it's based on anything real.

If toxic people are constantly feeding you made up bs about migration, of course people will be concerned. It's like that Simpsons episode where the people want to get rid of the bears but when told they will have to pay more tax, they get angry. So Mayor Quimby tells them immigration is the issue. Moe (an immigrant himself) responds with the classic line Immigrants "Immigrants! I knew it was them! Even when it was the bears, I knew it was them! You see, Moe was only responding rationally to irrational fears forced on him by conniving people. The same way as ordinary decent Germans bought into the Nazi lie.

We all face our own societal problems, different problems, but what they all have in common is none of them were caused by immigration. Don't blame Rashid in your local Spar or Carmen the Filipino nurse wiping the shit off your granddad's arse. Blame the political and economic interests that caused them. I'm as Irish as any of the people shouting about our country being full and I'm not ashamed to say as far as I'm concerned, immigrants are welcome here. 

Hate mongers like Derek Blighe don't speak for me.

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is political activist from West Cork.

We're All Migrants

Donal O'Driscoll ⚽ writing on the morning Jürgen Klopp left Liverpool FC.

I'm not a crier. It's not a macho thing, I don't choose not to cry, it's just the way I am. However I'm at home now with tears in my eyes, there will probably be plenty today. I've been dreading today since the end of January.

Yes I became a Liverpool fan like a lot of Irish people do, because my older brother was. If we were both five years younger, I'd probably be a Manchester United fan *shudder*, but I fell in love with the city of Liverpool and its people the first time I set foot there. I'm rarely happier than when I'm in Liverpool. It's the city of Larkin, a proud people who will give you the world, but won't be fucked about. I'll never be a Scouser, I wouldn't claim to be, but I do feel a deep connection to that wonderful city, even more so than to the football club.

I wasn't born in Shankly's time, I wasn't even 3 months old when Paisley resigned. Klopp is my generation's Shankly. From the minute he came in there was a sense that 'this guy gets it'. Liverpool is not just another club, it's special. Even if you don't like them, you have to admit as an entity, LFC is special. I would have no problem saying the same thing about Manchester United, I don't like them, but they're also a special club.

Jürgen understood Liverpool's specialness and got the fans. It was love at first sight, for him and for us. There are loads of great managers out there, but only one Klopp, and he was all ours. The same way Shankly was. He wasn't just a manager, he was a symbol, a father figure, an activist. He knew managing LFC was a vocation, not a job, and he served his vocation impeccably.

I knew today was coming, but nothing can prepare you for it. I don't normally put so much importance on sport, but this is different. This is like a family member leaving. I'm devastated. I think it will take a lot of time for this to sink in.

I welcome Arne Slot and wish him well, but he needs to understand just what we have lost. No one can replace Jürgen. He's not just a manager, he's an icon.

I want to wake up and have this be a dream. The thought of no more pearly whites showing as he belly laughs at a press conference, no more fist pumps, no more 'brain fuck' . This is the closest I've ever felt from sport of understanding 'its better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.' On a selfish level, I don't want to face the prospect of LFC without Jürgen, but I know our club will go on. This though, is a massive void to fill. Thank you Jürgen, not just for everything you've done, but for everything you are.

As the saying goes 'He made the people happy.'

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is a Liverpool supporter.

Thank You Jürgen

Donal O'Driscoll 🏃 Last October, as the rain pissed down on me, on a random roadside in Dublin, the desolation hit. 

I was quitting the Dublin Marathon. I hadn't even made the half-way point. This, in particular, annoyed me, as I had done several half marathons in 2023. In the buildup and on the day though, everything went against me. My training was lax, I was sick for the last couple of weeks beforehand, my sleeping arrangements weren't ideal as I was in a shared dorm in a hostel. I had a splitting headache that morning. To add insult to injury, after being drenched to the skin waiting for a spin to the RDS because the event management people insisted on taking down the medical tent, I had to walk in from the RDS to get my bag. Walking through cheering crowds, watching people finishing. It was probably in the top five most traumatic experiences of my life. I swore that day that I'd never feel that way again. The next marathon I was going to enjoy. The next one I was going to finish.

I had already signed up for the 2024 London Marathon as part of the CUH Charity team. I had booked it by chance when I was already training for Dublin. Now though, with the experience of failing one marathon behind me, I knew I had to pull out all the stops. On 3rd December, I gave up alcohol (having learned the hard way that being an active alcoholic is not ideal marathon preparation. The next day I started my marathon training under the guidance of a new running coach. I got sick just before Christmas and again just after finishing my last long run (18 miles) three weeks out. That aside, I think my preparation was about as good as it could have been.

London itself was a special experience, 28 of us flew out from Cork and there was a very noticeable team spirit among the group. We all ran out own individual races, but there was a real sense of togetherness.

As for marathon morning, I'd be lying if I pretended there were no nerves, but what was clear was that I had a laser focus. It took me 7 hours 17 minutes and 53 seconds (although 17 minutes is about how long I queued for the toilet, so I'm saying 7 hours) and I walked more than half of it. I won't be breaking any records and no one will remember my time but me, but I did it. I completed the London Marathon. Something I couldn't have dreamed of doing a while ago. The atmosphere was electric, the support unreal, the buzzer was like something I'd never experienced before. It was tough, physically it nearly broke me, but unlike Dublin, I never entertained not finishing it. I pushed on, dug deep, whatever cliché you want to use. The London Marathon was an experience that I will never forget.

I thought I was going to get emotional as I crossed the line. I didn't. I think it was just relief at that stage. However, I did get strangely emotional at different points. The most surreal was at about the halfway stage when YMCA was being played and I almost lost it. It's not because I'm in the closet or anything, I just think it was because it was the half-way point, which I didn't make in Dublin, and the fact I was part of such a brilliant buzz. Apart from about miles 15-19 where you thought "where the fuck is everyone?", the support throughout was something else. Constant offers of jelly babies, kids offering high fives, stuff you get at any marathon or half marathon, just on a much larger scale.

It wasn't all positive, after the adrenaline wore off, Monday morning I retreated back into my typical thought patterns. "Ah sure you walked most of it. You're not a real runner." It's funny, because:

  1. I wouldn't tolerate that talk from anyone else. 
  2. I wasn't getting that from anyone else on the CUH team. 

Some people on the team ran Boston Marathon qualifying times. All were at least two hours faster than me, most a lot more, but they were all coming up to me afterwards like I had won the bloody thing.

As I finish this piece, six days later, the memories are crystal clear. I find myself missing the buzz, reminding myself what I was doing this time last week, the pre-race nerves, the carb loading. I'm no Eliud Kipchoge, but I think back to what I've achieved, and it amazes me. Fellas like me don't do marathons. Yet I did, not just any marathon, one of the best marathons in the world. The memories from last Sunday will never leave me, nor will the sense of achievement. Nothing in my life has fundamentally changed since the London Marathon. I have the same life, the same job, but I have my medal, as well as the heightened sense of my own resilience. 

It is estimated that 0.17% of people will do a marathon this year. That figure doesn’t allow for multiple marathon runners, so the percentage is probably lower than that. I’m part of that 0.17%. If a tubby bloke from Clonakilty can run the London Marathon, then what else can I achieve if I put my mind to it?

I’m much too politically aware and cynical to believe in this meritocracy nonsense. There are always barriers. However, I’m moving with a spring in my step this week (figuratively not literally). The gloom of Dublin last October has been lifted. No one can take my medal away from me, or the sense of pride.

⏩Donal O'Driscoll is political activist who enjoys running. He recently completed the London Marathon.

Marathon Man

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